Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Sandouping China is the largest dam in the world measuring at 2,335 metres or 7,660 feet long with the height reaching 185 metres or 607 feet. The dam is so large that it actually slows the rotation of the Earth. Three Gorges Dam also gets the title of the world’s largest power station with its installed capacity of 22,500 MW. It generates 11 times as much power as the Hoover Dam.
Construction of Three Gorges Dam originally started back in 1994 and was mostly completed by 2006. It took 28 million cubic metres (37 million cubic yards) or concrete and 463,000 metric tons of steel to complete it, making it the largest construction project in China at the time.
Hydroelectric power production for Three Gorges Dam started back in 2003 and gradually increased production as the additional turbine generators came online throughout the years until 2012 when all 32 of the dam’s turbine generator units were operating.
Three Gorges Dam has created an immense deepwater reservoir that allows oceangoing freighters to navigate inland from Shanghai on the East China Sea to the inland city of Chongqing. The dam also protects millions of people in the region from the periodic flooding that typically happens in the Yangtze basin.
Three Gorges Dam was first discussed all the way back in the 1920s by Chinese nationalist Party Leaders but wasn’t really mentioned again until 1953 when Chinese leader Mao Zedong ordered feasibility studies of a number of different sites that could potentially be home to the dam.
The original ideas for this dam was to help control the disastrous flooding in the Yangtze area, facilitate better inland trade systems, and provide a much needed power for central China but as with any massive construction project there were some major concerns. One of the key problems was the danger of a dam collapse.
If Three Gorges Dam were to collapse it would displace 1.3 million people living in more than 1,500 cities, towns, and villages along the river. Destruction of the scenery and countless of rare architectural and archaeological sites was also a major concern. Fears that human and industrial waste from the cities would pollute the reservoir started increasing as more people came forward showing concerned about the dam’s impact on the environment. Earthquakes and landslides were also a major concern for the people in the region so construction was delayed for almost 40 years as the Chinese government weighed all the options.
Eventually Li Peng, an engineer, was able to persuade the National People’s Congress to build the dam. Despite a third of the people either abstaining or voting against the dam, construction of Three Gorges Dam moved ahead in 1993 by adding access roads and electricity to the site.